Making Room: Generosity and Community in Action

Devotional

Day 1: Making Space for Connection

In a world that often encourages us to fill every moment and every space, the practice of making room in our lives is a profound act of intentionality. This concept extends beyond the physical, urging us to leave emotional and spiritual space for others. By not filling our lives to the brim, we create opportunities for meaningful connections and combat the pervasive loneliness that many experience. This practice is not only beneficial for our physical health but also enhances our mental well-being. It allows us to be present for others, fostering a sense of community and belonging. [08:21]

"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 4:6, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you can intentionally create space to connect with someone this week?

Day 2: Gleaning as a Model for Generosity

The ancient practice of gleaning, as outlined in the book of Leviticus, serves as a powerful metaphor for generosity. By leaving some of the harvest for those in need, the community ensured that everyone had enough. This principle is beautifully illustrated in the story of Ruth and Boaz, where acts of kindness and generosity lead to unexpected blessings. In our modern context, this model challenges us to consider how we can share our resources with those around us, fostering a spirit of community support and care. [11:37]

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 23:22, ESV)

Reflection: What is one resource you have that you can intentionally share with someone in need this week?

Day 3: Addressing Global Inequality

The situation in Goma, Congo, serves as a stark reminder of the disparities in resource distribution across the globe. Despite being resource-rich, the region is plagued by poverty and conflict. This imbalance challenges us to reflect on our own abundance and consider how we can share with those who are less fortunate. As people of faith, we are called to reflect God's justice and equity in our actions, seeking ways to address these global inequalities through our generosity and advocacy. [16:23]

"Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." (Luke 3:11, ESV)

Reflection: How can you use your voice or resources to advocate for those facing inequality in your community or globally?

Day 4: God's Economic Plan

Leviticus outlines a divine economic system that emphasizes tithing and sharing, encouraging the creation of a community where everyone has enough. This plan reminds us that our resources are not meant to be hoarded but shared. By embracing this divine economic model, we can foster a community of generosity and support, ensuring that no one is left in need. This principle is echoed in the teachings of Jesus, who calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, involving both sacrifice and action. [24:18]

"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord." (Leviticus 27:30, ESV)

Reflection: What is one way you can practice tithing or sharing this week to contribute to a community of abundance?

Day 5: Love as Action and Sacrifice

Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves is a call to action and sacrifice. This love is not merely a feeling but a commitment to serve and support those around us. By embodying the teachings of Leviticus and the example of Christ, we are encouraged to engage in acts of kindness and service, both within our organized church projects and in our personal lives. This Valentine's Day, let us remember that love is an action—a commitment to sacrifice and serve those around us. [24:18]

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18, ESV)

Reflection: Identify one person in your life who could benefit from an act of love and service this week. What specific action can you take to show them love?

Sermon Summary

In today's reflection, we explored the profound concept of making room in our lives—both physically and spiritually—to share with others. Drawing from personal experiences, such as the discipline of saving room for a special meal on a cruise, we delved into the importance of not filling our lives to the brim, whether it be with food, possessions, or even our time. This idea of leaving space is not just about physical health but also about mental well-being, as it allows us to connect with others and combat loneliness.

We turned to the book of Leviticus, often overlooked due to its complex rules, to uncover the timeless principle of gleaning. This ancient practice of leaving some of the harvest for those in need is a powerful metaphor for how we can share our resources today. The story of Ruth and Boaz illustrates how this principle of generosity and community support can lead to unexpected blessings, even leading to the lineage of Jesus.

In our modern context, we face a world where resources are unevenly distributed. The situation in Goma, Congo, serves as a stark reminder of this imbalance, where a resource-rich land is plagued by poverty and conflict. This disparity challenges us to consider how we can share our abundance with those less fortunate.

Leviticus offers a divine economic plan, emphasizing the importance of tithing and sharing. This plan is not just about financial giving but about creating a community where everyone has enough. Jesus echoed this sentiment, urging us to love our neighbors as ourselves, which involves sacrifice and action.

As a community, we are called to embody this love through service and generosity. Whether through organized church projects or personal acts of kindness, we are encouraged to share our "pie" with others. This Valentine's Day, let us remember that love is not just a noun but an action—a commitment to sacrifice and serve those around us.

Key Takeaways

1. being by fostering connections and reducing loneliness. [08:21]
2. Gleaning as a Model for Generosity: The biblical practice of gleaning teaches us to leave some of our resources for those in need. This principle, exemplified in the story of Ruth and Boaz, shows how generosity can lead to unexpected blessings and community support.

3. Addressing Global Inequality: The situation in Goma highlights the stark disparities in resource distribution. As people of faith, we are challenged to consider how we can share our abundance with those who are less fortunate, reflecting God's call for justice and equity.

4. God's Economic Plan: Leviticus outlines a divine economic system that emphasizes tithing and sharing. This plan encourages us to create a community where everyone has enough, reminding us that our resources are meant to be shared, not hoarded.

5. Love as Action and Sacrifice: Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves calls us to action and sacrifice. This love is not just a feeling but a commitment to serve and support those around us, embodying the teachings of Leviticus and the example of Christ.

** [08:21]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:00] - The Concept of Making Room
[04:30] - Personal Experiences and Lessons
[06:45] - Introduction to Leviticus
[08:21] - The Principle of Gleaning
[10:15] - The Story of Ruth and Boaz
[11:37] - Modern Resource Distribution
[13:50] - The Situation in Goma
[16:23] - God's Economic Plan
[18:45] - The Call to Share
[20:30] - Love as Action
[22:00] - Community and Service
[24:18] - Conclusion and Call to Action

Sermon Clips

Another thing with mental health is that when we have space in our lives for other people, we generally feel better. A lot of the blues and the blahs go away when we are not isolated, when we're not lonely, when we make room for other people in our lives. So making room and sharing with others is a way of making ourselves healthier physically and mentally. [00:04:39] (30 seconds)

So we get a verse from Leviticus because do we ever really want to read anything from Leviticus it is a long book of rules and some of them are really not very nice since a bunch of the rules involve stoning people to death so most of us skip Leviticus but today we're reading from Leviticus and we get to this section about gleaning about not harvesting everything that's in your field and saving some for whoever might just be walking by. [00:07:14] (31 seconds)

There's another story in the bible in the book of Ruth where we hear about how gleaning is put into practice Naomi and Ruth travel from Moab back to Naomi's homeland the area we call Israel all of their husbands had died there was no one to care for them and Naomi said if we go back to my family they will take care of us. [00:08:54] (23 seconds)

Now we may not be farmers today but God is still blessing us with resources in our lives, resources that we can still save a bit to share a bit with our neighbors who are in need. These days when we look around the world we realize that the world is terribly lopsided as far as the distribution of resources. [00:09:56] (24 seconds)

The rebels turned off all the electricity and all the water for the entire city of 2 million people. Now my cousins work in international public health and the biggest fear right now is that cholera is going to run rampant because there is no clean water source for the people in Goma. [00:09:35] (22 seconds)

But this is one of those situations where this is a huge resource-rich country which is why the rebels are taking over. It's where our cobalt comes from that's powering every one of the phones that every one of us has. Virtually all the cobalt in the world comes from Congo. People are fighting over Congo but the people who live in Congo are not getting the benefit of this wealth. [00:10:00] (25 seconds)

We still have to struggle with the fact that God created a pie big enough to make sure that everyone has enough in the world, but we have decided how to divvy up the pie. And we get to argue over how we're going to divvy up that pie. [00:14:38] (19 seconds)

My guess is, I don't know how many, 40, 45 people in the room, we probably have 70 different opinions on how the federal government should spend its money. And we can debate this until kingdom comes, but I think when we look at Leviticus, what God is saying is, I made enough for everyone. [00:15:56] (21 seconds)

as our land here in illinois and wisconsin and minnesota for whatever reason some places have more stuff than other places do and god said i have a system for this i have a sense of economics and when you read through all of leviticus when you read through all of the old testament god has an economic plan and the economic plan is is to take 10 of what you have and give it away every year his economic plan is don't harvest everything in your field leave some for people who are low income it says that there is a jubilee year every seven years all debts are cancelled so you can't make a loan that goes more than seven years because at the end of seven years anything unpaid is forgiven you cannot charge any interest on any loans even if you only give them for seven years there's no interest at all if you have a slave that jubilee thing it applies to slavery too every seven years all the slaves are set free that's god's economics in leviticus this is not how the world operates right now it's a little bit weird to think through the implications of some of these economic plans and what the world would look like if none of us could have a 30 -year mortgage on our house but these are the ideas that god has god knows that the world is unfair and unequal and these economic ideas in the book of leviticus were god's way of leveling the playing field making sure that everyone got a piece of the pie now my family loves to play board games and there's a game called katan it's one of the most famous popular board games in the world and and you end up with a bunch of resources. You need wool, you need timber, you need iron, you need wheat. There are different things, and depending on where your pieces are on the board, you get different amounts of resources. So the whole game is trying to share resources with each other. [00:16:31] (132 seconds)

When God says, just make sure you take part of what you have to share with the community. If every person does that, then every person in the community has enough. Leviticus is a book about ethics. What are the rules for how we love each other as we live in community? [00:19:48] (25 seconds)

And this gets us to the end of our reading today. Where it talks about how we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And this again, just like Ruth ties us to Jesus, Leviticus ties us to Jesus because this is what Jesus quotes. This is what Jesus lives. This is what Jesus thinks is important from Leviticus. [00:20:03] (24 seconds)

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